Re: Antoine on 'EEI

[jmc@ptc.com]

My 2 cents on these Antoine issues:

1) Doesn't Antoine realize that EVERYONE on the team is being frequently 
   mentioned in trade proposals, as both the Celtics and other teams 
   "test the waters" with ridiculous offers to see if there are any nibbles 
   of interest out there.  The problem is that the press reports anything 
   involving Antoine, as it's likely to sell well, so it seems like Antoine's 
   being shopped more than others, even if Pitino has no real intention to 
   trade Antoine. 

2) Rick Pitino should show some guts and enforce some penalties for not 
   being in shape, and enforce them uniformly for everyone.  If Pitino 
   lets Antoine get away with breaking his rules, then Pitino will lose 
   control of his team.  Everyone will start breaking rules, and Pitino 
   will be forced to either punish everyone or lose all credibility by 
   punishing unevenly.  Red Sox manager Jimy Williams enforces his rules 
   firmly and fairly, even when it's at the expense of Pedro Martinez or 
   Carl Everett, and gets those star players mad at Jimy... but those star 
   players respect him all the more for it, and the role players do, too. 
   There's plenty more unity and loyalty on the Red Sox than on the Celtics.

   Pitino should keep Antoine out of the starting lineup until Antoine is 
   in shape.  I'd say he should keep him out of games altogether, but then 
   Antoine would lose out on conditioning time.  I suppose for non-starters, 
   this rule wouldn't affect them much, so maybe Pitino does need to just 
   say, "Antoine, you're not playing in real games until you're in shape." 
   Antoine will whine and complain, but in the end he'll get in shape and 
   the rest of the team will follow Pitino's rules from then on. 

Jon Mc